Administrative Freeze Assets – New Resolution FIU

28/05/2012

On February 22, 2012 was published in the Official Gazette the Resolution issued by the Financial Intelligence Unit (“FIU”) Nº 28/2012 (“Resolution”) which partially amends Resolution Nº 125/2009 in relation to the mode and timing of compliance with the obligations to report events and transactions suspected of financing terrorism. The Resolution also regulates the administrative freezing of assets linked to criminal actions provided for in Article 306 (1) of the National Criminal Code (“CP”).
Consistent with the following explanation, Art 20 of Law 25,246 establishes who are the Regulated Entities that must report to the FIU: the natural or legal persons that have an operate gambling activity; all those intermediaries in the purchase, rental or lending of securities operating under the ward of stock exchanges; insurance companies; public notaries; the licensed professionals whose activities are regulated by the professional advice of economics; legal person receiving grants or contributions from third parties, among others.
Clarifying this, the Resolution repels the Annex II of Resolution FIU Nº 125/09, which contains forms to detail the type of Regulated Entities, data reporting, activity, subjects reported and the description of the reported activity. Moreover, in addition, the Resolutions extends, the Annex I (“Annex”) of Resolution FIU Nº 125/09 by the new one detailed below.
The Annex sets out the following modifications:

The obligation of the Regulated Entities to report to the FIU the transactions, services provided or proposed to perform or provide services of any value, in the case of the following assumptions:

Natural or legal persons included in the lists of terrorists issued by the Security Council of the United Nations;

Funds, goods or other assets that are owned or controlled by persons mentioned in paragraph 1.1;

Those indicators that could constitute acts of Financing of Terrorism, under the terms of Article 306 of the CP, namely: collections and provisions of goods or money with the intention of being used, or knowing that will be used, in whole or in part:

To finance the commission of a crime;

For an organization that commits or attempts to commit a crime;

For an individual who commits or attempts to commits or participate in any way in the commission of a crime.

The deadline established by the Resolution for making the report shall be of a maximum of 48 hours after the operation was reported or tempted, non-business hours or days may be also counted for the purpose. In the case it becomes impossible to perform the report; Regulated Entities must intervene immediately to the competent judge and inform the transaction to the FIU as soon as possible, indicating the Court intervening.
If there are reasons to proceed with the administrative freezing of assets linked to criminal actions provided for in Article 306 CP, the FIU will immediately proceed to analyze the Financing of Terrorism Suspicious Reports. The administrative freezing of assets will be disposed in a justified decision which must be disclosed to the judge for him to ratify it within 48 hours.
Similarly, where appropriate, the FIU will order the Central Bank of Argentina, the Superintendence of Insurance of the Nation, the National Securities Commission and the relevant records and/or agencies that are competent, the administrative freezing of all assets linked to criminal actions under Article 306 of the CP.
Finally, to ensure the effective implementation of the measure, the FIU will be allowed to ask the Ministry of National Security, the help of Argentina Federal Police, the Airport Security Police, the National Gendarmerie and the Coast Guard Argentina.

The validity of the resolution was established as from the date of its publication in the Official Gazette, which occurred on February 22, 2012.